Driving force for sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy

Forming coastal economic zones

The Hai Phong Economic Zone Management Board has just announced that the city has reviewed, proposed and taken steps to plan the establishment of a coastal economic zone development area of 20,000 hectares in the area south of Van Uc River, the port and logistics area of Nam Do Son.

This new coastal economic zone covers an area of 5 districts including Kien Thuy, An Lao, Tien Lang, Vinh Bao, and Do Son.

This will be Hai Phong's second coastal economic zone, after Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone established in 2008.

According to Hai Phong City, the establishment of the new economic zone aims to effectively exploit the development orientation of the coastal highway, Nam Do Son port (expected to be completed before 2030) and Tien Lang airport area (expected after 2023); connecting with neighboring economic zones ( Thai Binh , Quang Yen, Van Don). From here, Hai Phong and other localities will form a chain of coastal economic zones, an important driving force in the socio-economic development of the entire Red River Delta.

In fact, the new economic zone already has a number of planned industrial parks such as Tan Trao, Ngu Phuc, Tien Lang. The establishment of the new economic zone aims to take advantage of the development potential of the existing industrial parks and Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone.

*Nam Dinh Vu Industrial Park, Nam Dinh Vu Port. (Photo: M. Ha)*

Over the past decade, Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone has left outstanding marks with 9 industrial parks, including famous ones such as Dinh Vu, Trang Due, VSIP Hai Phong, ... thereby, helping the city to attract billion-dollar investment projects. Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone is considered the driving force for maritime economic development, focusing on seaport services.

In November 2022, Hai Phong also started construction of the Nam Dinh Vu sea dyke construction investment project in Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone with the goal of preventing floods, storms, rising sea levels, exploiting the potential and advantages of logistics connections from the seaport system... contributing to promoting the regional economy and ensuring security and defense of Hai Phong's coastal area.

The formation of coastal economic zones is considered to contribute greatly to the sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy.

To date, 18 coastal economic zones have been established nationwide.

In Quang Ninh, there are 3 coastal economic zones established, including Van Don, Quang Yen and Mong Cai - Hai Ha border gate economic zone. These economic zones have contributed to changing the face of a province with strong marine economy like Quang Ninh.

In Thanh Hoa, Nghi Son Coastal Economic Zone has contributed to helping the province have a key coastal urban, industrial and service center of the country, focusing on industry and services associated with effective exploitation of seaports.

Chu Lai - Quang Nam and Phu Quoc - Kien Giang economic zones... are also considered key areas for local economic development associated with the marine economy.

Sustainable development of Vietnam's marine economy

Immediately after Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW in 2018 "On the Strategy for Sustainable Development of Vietnam's Marine Economy to 2030, with a vision to 2045" was issued, the Central Propaganda Department has promoted and raised public awareness of the position and role of marine resources in economic development.

The construction of coastal economic zones is one of the priorities. The results achieved are quite impressive.

With Dinh Vu - Cat Hai, this coastal economic zone has built large industrial parks, including Trang Due Industrial Park - a location that attracts large investment projects, typically the LG Group (Korea) with capital of billions of USD.

*VinFast automobile manufacturing complex with an investment capital of about 7.6 billion USD (Photo: M. Ha).*

To date, Dinh Vu - Cat Hai Economic Zone has attracted nearly 31 billion USD, including 285 FDI projects with a total capital of nearly 19 billion USD. This has become a stronghold for many large investors, deeply participating in the global value chain. Of which, the VinFast Automobile Manufacturing Complex project stands out, with an investment capital of about 7.6 billion USD.

Large amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) not only change the face of the local economy but also contribute strongly to the sustainable development of the marine economy. Along with the development of industrial parks, Hai Phong has developed the deep-water port of Lach Huyen.

Phu Quoc Economic Zone is considered the driving force to help Kien Giang reach the goal of becoming Vietnam's marine economic center by 2030. Phu Quoc is oriented to be an international marine eco-tourism and service center.

Meanwhile, Chu Lai Economic Zone is also a successful case with the presence of Truong Hai Company, which cooperates with Hyundai Group (Korea) to assemble three types of products: trucks, passenger cars and buses.

Marine economic development is considered by many countries as a new growth driver, and also a solution for countries to increase their influence in seas and islands.

The construction of coastal economic zones helps move towards a green economy, towards a sustainable development scenario for the marine economy for coastal countries. Vietnam is a maritime country with a coastline of more than 3,260 km and more than 3,000 large and small islands (including the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and Truong Sa).

Coastal economic zones will help Vietnam better exploit the advantage of its long coastline, especially thanks to its commercial location, the East Sea is located on the vital maritime traffic route connecting the Pacific Ocean - Indian Ocean, Europe - Asia and the Middle East - Asia.

Manh Ha

Ba Ria - Vung Tau will be the national maritime economic center and maritime service center of Southeast Asia . Ba Ria - Vung Tau implements the development motto "Breakthrough - Dynamic - Creative - Sustainable", becoming one of the important development driving forces, the gateway to the sea.

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